Novel Method To Calibrate Temperature Probe

Too Tall

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Timberline 850
I’m a relatively new Traeger owner and have been inspired by some of the ideas I’ve read on this forum. I want to contribute something that I think will help others enjoy their Traeger more.

I’ve seen people say that their temperature probe isn’t accurate, and I’d agree. Calibrating my probe with a glass of ice water as the owner’s manual describes didn’t help. Here’s how I fixed it.

Atnormal elevations water boils at 212 F. I rolled my grill inside next to my stove, turned it on, and put the probe in a pot of boiling water. In the Settings/Probe Calibration menu there is an option for a manual probe offset. The key thing to know is that you’ll have to look at your probe’s temperature on the Traeger app on your phone. Adjust the offset on your grill until it reads 212. You won’t find this method in any manual, but it works great. My probe was reading high by 4 or 5 degrees, which is huge when it comes to pulling your meat off at the right time. Hope this helps.
 
I agree that calibrating the grill with boiling water is the better way to be accurate in that range. You can also boil water in the grill or bring out the pot and compare with an instant read like a ThermaPen MK4. Sadly, many have reported that the Traeger temps are inconsistent, and the alerting is anemic at best.

But the best tool in the shed for serious consistant grilling with amazing graphing and alerts is the Fireboard 2, worth every penny.
 
THNX for the tip and I hope it does help those who use the Traeger Probe, I'm just not one of them. (FireBoard)
If you do choose to try this method, one thing to keep in mind, the probe cannot touch anything but water in the boiling pot... so you'll have to rig something to keep it elevated while you mess with the settings... touching the bottom of the pot or anything but water will not be the reading you want.
 
I did the hot water method and used my Thermapen mk4. This allowed me to check the temps from 200 degrees all the way down to 150 degrees as the water cooled off. I inserted a -11 degree offset and now my Traeger probe is reading within a degree consistent through the temp range. I am very happy. I will do it again whenever I must replace the meat probe. I recommend this method for everyone.
 
Hello,

I am finding this thread a few years later, but it sparked my interest. I have always struggled with the Traeger built-in thermometer not being the most accurate. So I first tried your method with my thermapen on the stove using boiling water and noticed it kept saying 210.5 and I was worried my thermapen was out of its accuracy range of 0.5 deg F. After digging I found that in Austin where I live the boiling point of water is 210.6 deg F, so my thermapen was right and within range. Some advice for calibrating the Traeger to boiling water is to either cross-check with a known source (Thermapen, etc) like @Steeleshark2, or to use Thermoworks boiling point calculator to input your elevation and pressure of the day to get an accurate boiling value. Do not make the same mistake as me and assume water boils at 212 deg F everywhere.

For a few weeks, I was just adding 1.5 degrees to all the numbers my thermapen was reading out, but come to find out it was right all along. Which I should have assumed earlier on. Thermoworks also has some great resources on doing a proper ice test on all thermometers using crushed ice and making a "proper" ice bath. I do this to all my thermometers to validate their calibration.

Here is the link to that: https://www.thermoworks.com/thermapen101-creating-an-icebath/

I recommend doing the ice bath because if done properly the ice bath will be 32 deg F no matter your pressure or elevation. This is why it is an industry-standard for quick probe checks. I assume most people don't create the best ice bath and you can see large swings from 32 as seen in the last picture.

I do undertsand why you would want to do the calibration up towards the range of where your meat will be when done, and trying to elimante the amount of error from opposite sides of the range. If you plan to do the boiling point method just figure out your boiling temperature based off conditions and then proceed. Mostly posting this to help forum wonderers.

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